Delete your data

Last updated: October 3, 2026

You do not have to close your Two Porch Lights account to get rid of information you no longer want. Most of what you add can be deleted on its own, from inside the app, with no request form and no waiting period. If you would rather remove the account entirely, use Delete your account instead.

Delete it yourself, in the app

Each item carries its own delete control: the Delete button in an expense's details (tap the expense; in app versions before 1.0.12 it is on the expense row), the Delete button inside an event, an × on a note or a Tax Center entry. It works the same way in the Android app, the iPhone app, and on the website at twoporchlights.com/tracker.html. There is no waiting period.

Expenses. Deleting an expense takes it, and its receipt photo, out of the app. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.9, it also deletes the photo file, and so does removing or replacing the photo on an expense. In earlier app versions the photo file itself is kept until the shared space is deleted (see What cannot be deleted on its own). A receipt added as a PDF (on the website, or in the apps from version 1.0.12) also keeps the original PDF file. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.12, deleting the expense, or removing or replacing its receipt, deletes that file too.
Calendar events and custody entries, including any address saved on them. For a repeating event, Delete asks This date only or All dates.
Tax Center records, including medical mileage trips and the addresses used to calculate them.
Notes and comments you posted on an expense or an event.
Children's details. Clear any field on a child's info card (allergies, medications, doctor, insurance and the rest) on the Children card in Settings. The change applies for both parents. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.8, removing a child also clears their info card, birthday and Kid Kit list for both parents. In earlier app versions, removing a child's name does not clear those, so clear them first, then remove the name. If you already removed it there, add the child back with exactly the same spelling, clear those details, and remove the name again.
Parenting plan copy. Settings → Schedule → Parenting plan on file → Remove plan. Either parent can remove it. This deletes the file and its text from the shared space; settings already filled in from it stay until you change them.
Home address for mileage. Settings → Account → Home address for mileage → Clear address.
Mileage trips. A mileage trip becomes an ordinary expense, and deletes like one. Once deleted, the trip is not offered again. Choosing Didn't happen means a trip is never added, and on a trip that was added automatically it takes the expense back out.

One exception: once a month has been settled and locked by you and your co-parent, the expenses inside it stop being editable, so that neither parent can quietly change a month you already agreed on. Reopening a settled month takes agreement from each of you, or you can email us.

Deleting an item removes it from the app right away, except for the short lines about an expense, a payment or a calendar event under Recent updates (see What cannot be deleted on its own). Copies can remain for a limited time: the app keeps the last 50 saved versions of a shared space's records so sync errors can be repaired, and an item drops out of that history once 50 newer versions have been saved. Backup copies are removed within 90 days of something leaving the live service. Our Privacy Policy has the details.

Drop a device from your account

On the Messages tab, tap 🔔 Notifications on to turn notifications off for the device you are holding. That deletes the push token stored for that device, so the device is no longer registered to your account. Other devices you use are left alone.

Leave a shared space

On the website: Settings → Account → Co-parent spaces → Leave this shared space. It leaves the space you have open.
In the Android and iPhone apps: Settings → Account → Safety & reporting → Leave this shared space.

Both ask you to type LEAVE to confirm. Leaving removes you from the space, along with every device you registered for alerts on that space, and you stop seeing it and getting its notifications. Your account, and anything outside that space, stays exactly as it is.

On the website, and in the iPhone and Android apps from version 1.0.8, leaving also gives the space a new invite code, so the code it had, and any invite link sent with it, stops working. There you also cannot leave a space you are the only member of, because nobody would be left who could open it.

Leaving never deletes the space or anything in it: a parenting plan copy on file stays with the space too. A shared space is deleted when its last remaining member deletes their Two Porch Lights account, or at a verified account holder's request. If you are the last member and want the space and its records removed, delete your account instead of leaving, or email us.

What cannot be deleted on its own

Receipt photo files, in earlier app versions. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.9, deleting an expense, or removing or replacing its photo, also deletes the photo file. In earlier app versions it does not: the receipt photo is taken out of the app, but the photo file stays in the shared space's private file storage until the space is deleted. If you want one erased sooner, email support@twoporchlights.com from the address on the account.
PDF receipt files, in app versions before 1.0.12. When an expense whose receipt was kept as a PDF is deleted, or its receipt removed or replaced, in an app version before 1.0.12, the PDF file stays in the shared space's private file storage until the space is deleted. On the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.12, it is deleted. To have one erased sooner, email support@twoporchlights.com from the address on the account.
Recent updates lines. When you delete an expense, a payment or a calendar event, the short lines already saved about it under Recent updates stay, and deleting it saves a line too, which can hold the same few words (for an expense, its amount and description). Your co-parent sees the lines about your changes under Recent updates on the Today tab. The app has no way to delete a line. The website saves these lines, and so do the iPhone and Android apps from version 1.0.12. The lines saved with a shared space are deleted when that space is deleted, and deleting your account deletes the lines about changes you made. To ask us to remove one, email support@twoporchlights.com from the address on the account.
Messages you have already sent, including documents or photos attached to them. There is no way to edit a message, unsend it, or delete a single message, for either parent. That is deliberate: a shared thread that either parent can quietly rewrite is worth nothing to either of them. The exception is account deletion: if you delete your Two Porch Lights account, the messages you sent are removed from the shared thread (on the website, and in the apps from version 1.0.9, the files attached to them are deleted too; in earlier app versions those files are no longer shown, but they stay in private file storage until you ask us to delete them), and when the last member of a shared space deletes their account, the whole space is deleted.
Private journal entries. Only you can see them, and they cannot be edited or deleted in the app. They are removed when you delete your account.
Your email address, and the account it belongs to. These are what the app signs you in with, so they can only be removed by deleting the account.
Limited billing records. We keep what we must to meet tax and accounting obligations. These are held by our payment providers, contain no content from your account, and are not used for anything else.

Ask us instead

If you cannot reach something yourself, email support@twoporchlights.com from the address on the account and tell us what you want removed. We will verify that the request comes from the account holder and complete it within 30 days.

What we hold, how long we hold it, and why is set out in our Privacy Policy.